1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to wireless telephone methods and systems.
2. Background Art
Wireless telephone service providers offer discounts to their mobile users for mobile to mobile calls made between mobile users belonging to the same service provider. A mobile user is a telephone user having a wireless telephone such as a cellular telephone. A mobile to mobile call is a telephone call made between two mobile users. A mobile to mobile call within the same service provider is a telephone call made between two mobile users belonging to the same service provider.
A mobile user belongs to a service provider by having a service contract with the service provider. The service provider provides mobile service to the mobile user in accordance with the service contract. Upon receiving mobile service from a service provider, a mobile user is able to make calls with other mobile users (belonging to the same or different service providers) and with other land-line users. A land-line user is a telephone user having a land-line telephone connected to the public switched telephone network (PTSN).
Service providers generally provide their mobile users with monthly minutes for their mobile users to use for calls with other telephone users (i.e., other mobile users and land-line users) in a given month. Some service providers generally categorize the monthly minutes into two sets: (i) mobile to mobile minutes for calls which are mobile to mobile calls within the same service provider; and (ii) usage minutes for calls which are usage calls. Usage calls are calls which are not mobile to mobile calls within the same service provider. A call between a mobile user belonging to a service provider and another mobile user belonging to a different service provider is a usage call. Likewise, a call between a mobile user belonging to a service provider and a land-line user is a usage call.
Service providers offer a variety of monthly minute call packages to their mobile users. For example, service providers provide mobile users with unlimited mobile to mobile minutes for mobile to mobile calls within the same service provider. In this instance, a mobile user belonging to a service provider has unlimited minutes for calls with other mobile users belonging to the same service provider. That is, the service provider does not charge any minutes (mobile to mobile or usage minutes) against the mobile user for calls with other mobile users belonging to the same service provider.
As another example, service providers provide their mobile users with a limited number of mobile to mobile minutes for mobile to mobile calls within the same service provider. In this instance, a mobile user belonging to a service provider is allotted a limited number of mobile to mobile minutes for calls with other mobile users belonging to the same service provider. That is, the service provider charges mobile to mobile minutes against the mobile user for calls with other mobile users belonging to the same service provider. As such, once the mobile user has exhausted the allotted number of mobile to mobile minutes, the service provider treats additional mobile to mobile calls within the same service provider as usage calls and charges usage minutes against the mobile user for these additional mobile to mobile calls.
Service providers charge usage minutes against their mobile users for usage calls (i.e., calls that are not mobile to mobile calls within the same service provider or mobile to mobile calls within the same service provider that are treated as usage calls). As such, service providers charge usage minutes against their mobile users for calls with other mobile users belonging to different service providers. Likewise, service providers charge usage minutes against their mobile users for calls with land-line users. As indicated above, service providers charge usage minutes against their mobile users for mobile to mobile calls within the same service provider once their mobile users have exhausted their allotted number of mobile to mobile minutes. Further, once mobile users have exhausted their allotted number of usage minutes, service providers charge extra usage fees against their mobile users for additional usage calls.
A problem is that when a mobile user originates or receives a telephone call to/from another telephone user (i.e., another mobile user or a land-line user), the mobile user may not know whether the call is a mobile to mobile call within the same service provider. If the call is a mobile to mobile call within the same service provider and if the mobile user has an allotted limited number of mobile to mobile minutes for mobile to mobile calls within the same service provider, then another problem is that the mobile user probably does not know how many of the allotted mobile to mobile minutes are left for the mobile user to use before the service provider charges usage minutes against the mobile user.